Fluid circulating system



Feb. 21, 1939. M 1 R 2,147,854

FLUID CIRCULATING SYSTEM Filed March is, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR M l-ZZZ ,L Mueller:

Feb. 21, 1939. M, MUELLER 2,147,854

FLUID CIRCULATING SYSTEM Filed March 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Shee t 2 INVENTOR Morz'ZZ ,L. Mueller Patented Feb. 21, 1939 FLUID GIRCULATING SYSTEM Moritz L. Mueller, Grosse Pointe, Mich., assignor to Borg-Warner Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Application March 16, 1936, Serial No. 69,012

3 Claims. (Cl. 237-53) This invention relates to heating systems and has particularly to do with duct systems embraced in such heating systems for transferring heated air from the furnace of the system to the rooms of a building, and thereafter for returning to the furnace the heated air thus employed.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved duct system structure wherein the heated air supplied to the building and the cooler air removed therefrom can be more accurately and. positively controlled than has heretofore been the case with heating systems and to the end that each room within a building in which the system is to be employed will be kept at a relatively uniform temperature independently of any other room, or, if desired, all rooms can be kept at substantially the same temperature regardless of weather conditions, provided the heating system is large enough to supply the heat required.

Another object of the invention is to provide an economical duct system to be employed particularly with a forced circulation heating system and by the use of a few relatively standard size parts which do not have to be made up especially for any building but can be taken to the site of the building and there readily cut and installed by a relatively unskilled workman. Another object of the invention is to provide a duct system that can be installed in the basement or any other part of a building without disfiguring the appearance of the basement or room to such an extent that it cannot be fillished the same as any other room.

Briefly stated, the embodiment of the invention disclosed for the purpose of illustration comprises a hot air furnace of any approved type, preferably equipped with a circulating fan'adapted to discharge a blast of heated air from the furnace into the outlet thereof or plenum chamber with which the hot air ducts of the heating system communicate. The outlet or plenum chamber is so constructed as to reach practically to the ceiling, and above and beyond this are located. one or more main distribution ducts which extend across the ceiling for any desired distance between the joists upon which the floor above is supported. These main hot air distribution ducts are preferably rectangular in cross section, one dimension thereof being adapted to extend horizontally for any desired distance between the joists and the other to extend vertically a predetermined distance below the joists. These main hot air distribution ducts are of the same cross sectional dimensions from one end to the other and are adapted simply to distribute hot air to lateral distribution ducts communicating with separate rooms of the building. These lateral ducts also are rectangular in cross 5 sectional dimensions, the vertical dimension thereof being slightly less than the distance the main distribution ducts extend below the joists. The lateral ducts communicate with the main ducts b-y openings formed in the sides of the main ducts below the joists to receive the ends of the lateral ducts therein, the ends within the main duct being provided with elbows of the same cross sectional area as the lateral ducts and extending across the main duct a distance 15 depending upon the width of thelateral ducts. The furnace also has a cold air inlet chamber through which air from the building is supplied to the circulating fan of the furnace, and this likewise extends upwardly from the furnace to the joists and there communicates with the space between two or more of the joists. This space is closed by suitable sheets of metal, fiberboard or otherwise, to provide one or more cold air supply ducts extending between the joists to registers through the floor or to vertical supply ducts therethrough throughwhich cold air from the building is received.

In this duct system, the only structure extending below the joists are the shallow lateral dis- 30 tribution ducts for hot air. The ceiling of the room can be finished without difliculty, either by building up false overhead joists forming a continuation of these lateral ducts entirely across the ceiling, or by building downwardly from the 5 main joists between the laterals to such an extent that the entire ceiling can be finished in any suitable manner below the laterals.

Referring now to the drawings,

Fig. 1 illustrates a fragmentary cross sectional view of a building with a heating system embodying the principles of the invention installed therein, the furnace of the system being illustrated in side elevation;

Fig.2 is a View similar to Fig. 1 except that 45 it is taken at relative to Fig. l and hence illustrates a furnace in end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the floor above the room or basement in which the heating system is installed and of the heating system therebeneath;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the floor above the room or basement and the ceiling thereof and illustrates the installation of one of the main hot air ducts of the system and one of the laterals therefrom in the space between such floor and ceiling;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the main hot air ducts with two lateral ducts secured thereto;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view through the main hot air duct illustrated by Fig. 5 and taken substantially on line 66 thereon, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. '7 is a similar view taken frofn Fig. 5, on the line 'I'I, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical cross sectional view through the two lateral ducts illustrated by Fig. 5 and as taken substantially on the line 8-8, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In Figs. 1 and 2 there is illustrated at II] a forced air circulating hot air furnace of any suitable design. This furnace may embrace all the modern equipment of a hot air furnace such as a circulating fan, an oil burner, a heat exchange unit, and any desired air purifying and filtering apparatus, all of these being not shown for the purpose of simplifying the disclosure hereof.

It will be apparent that the structure represented by the numeral I6 may be an air cooling system instead of a'furnace, or, if such is desired, a cooling system may be embraced in the furnace or connected thereto, and in such event the duct system about to be described can be employed for circulating hot air or cold air or both at different times. Notwithstanding this, for the purpose of convenience, the structure illustrated by the numeral III will be referred to hereafter only as a furnace of a heating system.

Referring further to Figs. 1 and 2, there is employed preferably above the furnace I0 and at one end thereof a plenum or hot air distribution chamber II which extends upwardly from the furnace to such an extent that the upper end thereof will be adjacent the ceiling of the room in which the furnace II] is installed. Above the plenum chamber II are disposed, in spaced relation across the room, joists I2, adapted to support the floor I3 of the room of the building above the aforesaid furnace room. Between these joists and extending across the room any desired distance are one or more main distribution ducts I4 and I6, adapted to be connected to the plenum chamber II and to extend either in both directions from the plenum chamber I I or one in one direction and one in another, as is illustrated by Fig. 2. The plenum chamber II is, of course, closed up at the top except for the connection thereof to the ducts I4 and I6 through which all the air forced into the plenum chamber I I by the circulating fan within the furnace I0 is discharged. Connected to the main distribution ducts I4 and I6 are any number of lateral air distribution ducts I'I, I8, I9, 20, 2|, 22 and 23, some of which may be small and others large, as is illustrated in Fig. 3. These lateral ducts may be rectangular in cross section, as are the main distribution ducts I4 and I6 and are adapted to be supported transversely of the joists I2 and directly therebeneath. The main distribution ducts I4 and I6 are provided with openings in the sides thereof below the joists I2, for the purpose of receiving the ends of the aforesaid lateral ducts, and within the ducts I4 and I6 the lateral ducts are provided with suitable elbows 24 of substantially the same cross section as the lateral ducts. These elbows are positioned within the ducts I4 and I6 in such manner that the open ends thereof face the furnace I6 in such manner that the air from the plenum chamber II brought through the ducts I4 and I6 will be received by these elbows and transferred laterally through the lateral ducts aforementioned. It will be apparent that the amount of air received by any of these elbows will depend upon the size of the elbows and lateral ducts, and in addition thereto, upon the number of ducts attached to each main duct and the position of one lateral duct relative to another.

The opposite ends of the lateral ducts may be connected by elbows 26 and vertical ducts 21 to registers 28 adapted to supply air to any number of rooms of the building in which the heating system is installed. In order to provide for the desired distribution of heated air throughout the building either uniform or otherwise, there are employed adjacent the registers 28 dampers or valves 29, and in addition thereto, there may be employed within the main ducts I4 and I6, particularly when two lateral ducts are connected closely together to one of the main ducts, deflecting baiiles 3I. It will be apparent that the defleeting baffles 3I are not required when the lateral ducts are connected to the main ducts far enough apart that the air within the main duct may acquire uniform velocity after passing the inlet elbow of a preceding duct.

The deflecting baflles, as will be seen from Fig. 6, consist of baffle plates disposed near the upper edge of the openings in the elbows 24 and fastened in any desired position between the vertical walls of the ducts I4 and I6 by screws indicated at 32. Just below the baffles 3I there may be provided, in the lower walls of the ducts I4 or I6, openings adapted normally to be closed by screws 33. When the screws 33 are removed from the openings it is possible to insert some small tool through the openings for the purpose of bending or moving the baffles 3I to any desired position. v

The opposite end of thefurnace I0 is provided with a cold air inlet chamber 34 adapted to supply air to be heated, from the building to the furnace I0. Inlet chamber 34 is similar in construction to the plenum chamber I I and extends upwardly from the furnace to the lower extremities of the joists I2. The inlet chamber 34 thus will communicate with the space between two or more joists I2, and hence by closing up this space elsewhere than above the inlet chamber 34 by sheets of metal, paper board or other material, indicated at 36, there may be formed cold air transfer ducts 31 and 38. These ducts also communicate generally with the lower part of some of the rooms in the building in which the heating system is employed, these generally being the rooms on the lower floor thereof, although vertical extensions of the ducts 31 and 38 may be provided to provide communication with rooms on any number of floors above the first floor.

It will be observed that the lateral ducts II, I8, I9, 26, 2I, 22 and 23 have somewhat the appearance of beams used to support joists such as are indicated at I2, and if desired, the ceiling of the furnace room may be finished according to some architectural design contemplating such an appearance. This may be done simply by building up continuation's of these lateral ducts entirely across the ceiling and then the entire ceiling finished between and around these ducts in an'ysuitable manner.

The ceiling also may be finished, as is illustrated by Fig. 4, by using cross members indi- 'cated at 39which may be fastened in spaced 75 relation in any suitable manner below the joists 12. The vertical dimensions of these cross members are such as to extend slightly below the lateral ducts aforesaid, and a ceiling 4| may be constructed by the use of lath 42 and plaster 43, as is indicated, or any desired type of ceiling construction may be used instead thereof.

It will be apparent that it is desirable to have the lateral ducts reasonably shallow and relatively wide. A depth of from three and onehalf to three and three-quarters inches has been found to be satisfactory for these lateral ducts. When this depth duct is used, pieces of wood such as two-by-fours can very conveniently be used for the cross members 39. The ducts can be as wide as is desired, up to the width of the main distributing ducts l4 and I6, and thereafter wider ducts may be provided simply by employing two lateral ducts to the same room, one beside the other. By employing ducts such as are indicated at H and 23 with one duct approximately twice as wide as another, it is possible to have several combinations of ducts to any one room so as to provide for variations in the size of the room and in the amount of air desired to be delivered thereto.

As is illustrated by Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive, the lateral ducts can be joined to the main ducts l4 and [6 by forming an opening in the side of one of the main ducts somewhat smaller than the cross section of the lateral ducts and then severing the main duct diagonally from the corners of this smaller opening until the ends of the severances form corners of a rectangle somewhat larger than the cross section of the lateral duct to be inserted. The material of the main duct between these corner portions can then be bent outwardly to provide flanges such as are indicated at 44 in Fig. 7 so as to provide a flanged opening in which the end of the lateral duct with an elbow 24 attached thereto can be inserted. Paper or other binding strips such as are indicated at 46 may then be wound around the flanges- 44 and the adjacent surface of the lateral duct to provide an air-tight joint.

In order to provide the desired temperature in each room after the heating system has been installed in a building, it is necessary only to go to each room of the building and progressively close the valves or dampers 29 of the rooms which are warmer than desired, thus building up a back pressure in the lateral ducts leading thereto until only the required amount of hot air is delivered to the room. It is preferable, of course, to have these valves 29 adjustable from the room through the register 28 therein so that the regulation of the system can be carried out from each room while observing a thermostat therein. In the event one duct placed rather closely to another does not deliver a sufficient amount of heated air after the system has been adjusted as much as possible by the manipulation of the valves 29, then one of the baffles 3| may be installed or adjusted to compensate for the effect of the position of these two ducts.

In order to install such a duct system in a building, it is apparent that the only materials required are sheets such as are indicated at 36,

standard size distribution ducts such as are indicated at l4 and I6, and standard size lateral ducts and elbows therefor, as, for example, in sizes such as are illustrated at I! and 23, together with other required standard parts such as elbows, baiiles, registers, etc. The duct system can be installed almost entirely with tools such a hammer, nails, snips and wrapping such as that indicated at 46. It is not necessary to measure and cut all of these parts to size before having them delivered to the building in which the system is installed, because all of this can be done on the premises, as has been heretofore described and simply by measuring the lengths required from the actual building. It will be apparent also that it is not necessary with this system to carry a large amount of inventory of parts and ducts in order to be able to install the system in practically any kind of a building. Also, the building can be laid out without much reference to the installation of the furnace, and this can be later installed in most any desired position. Notwithstanding this, the system when installed will be capable of supplying any desired amount of heat to any room.

While a typical duct system has been disclosed herein for the purpose of illustration, it will be apparent that the invention is not limited to the system as illustrated, but is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with the floor of a building having spaced means for the support there of, of a main distribution duct extending beneath said floor between said means and projecting below the lower extremities thereof, and a lateral duct connected to a side of said main duct below said supporting means and extending laterally across said supporting means and contiguous to the lower extremities thereof, the lower walls of said ducts being disposed substantially in the same plane.

2. The combination with a floor of a building having spaced supporting means therefor, of a main distribution duct disposed between two of said supporting means and extending therebeneath, a lateral duct of rectangular form disposed contiguous to said supporting mean and connected to a side of said main duct, and a ceiling disposed beneath said supporting means and ducts and having said lateral duct in contact with the upper surface of said ceiling, the lower walls of said ducts being disposed substantially in the same plane.

3. The combination with the floor of a building having spaced supporting means therefor, of a main distribution duct disposed between two of said means and extending therebeneath, a lateral duct contiguous to said supporting means and connected to a side of said main duct, spacing members disposed in parallel relation to said lateral duct and secured to said supporting means, and a ceiling supported by said spacing means and extending beneath said lateral duct, the lower Walls of said ducts being disposed substantially in the same plane.

MORITZ L. MUELLER. 

